Breastfeeding Chatter #17

[~TT40~]

He also has this habit of grabbing my boob/nipple, pulling it out, inspecting it, then shoving it back in his mouth. I am keeping his nails pretty short until he grows out of that one!!

Spock does that!! or she will grab a handful of boob whilst drinking like she is holding it like a cup.

[HotI]

Night feeds. I until recently I never counted or documented number of feeds or times etc for Ds but I found an app and have been recording feeds trying to work out what is happening and if I can reduce any night feeds. DS is 10.5 months, bf and eats reasonable amount of solids. He reacts to dairy if he or I eat it, and so I limit it in my diet and don't offer it to him. Recently started both of us with rice milk, cos it looks like the intolerance might hang around for awhile. ( DD also sensitive to dairy but grew out of it earlier).
So, tonight he is feeding every 90 minutes and feeds for 5-8 minutes, which is similar to his day feeds. So, I assume he is gettin g a full feed, and he be waking from thirst of hunger? his weight is fine, he has droppeddown the charts but DD did similar, and he was born quite big.
DD also

[HotI]

DD also had frequent night feeds until 15 months, but I wouldn't mind it if DS had fewer sooner. why do other kids sleep longer?
I am thinking about leaving ds with dh and some expressed milk so I can try to have a decent block of sleep, but don't know how sccessfully that will be for either of us.
Also thinking about moving DS into DD s room in a few months and possibly into the same bed. But need him to be sleeping longer first.

Any thoughts, encouragement will be welcome.

Congrats T on 6 months of breastfeeding too!

[peanutter]

DS2 has dropped his night feeds almost completely. Sometimes he'll have one around midnight, or around 4am, but generally he's sleeping through now.

He however has been having more and more bottle and solids, and less and less boob

If he so much as hears you putting together the bottle, it's pretty hard to get him to have any boob, and sometimes he outright refuses, and won't drink at all from me - just keeps looking for and straining to get the bottle.

And some mornings he doesn't want want boob at all ...

Good morning, weaning

[onthefly]

I don't know HotI. Neither of my kids could go without till 18+ months. DS I night weaned at 14 months and we had to feed him food in the night! Silly , DD I didn't bother till she showed signs she could go without - about 18 months.
I'm hoping to move her out soon - she's nearly 2 and sleeps 8-9 hours straight some nights now. So we're getting there.

peanutter You've come a long way

[Jennifer13]

DD2 is almost the same age and I have just started putting her in her own room to sleep, mostly because we tend to disturb her when we go to bed. Also because she really wants to sleep on her tummy and couldn't do that in her hammock. So we went from pretty much cosleeping most of the night with however many bfs she wanted to separate rooms (can't bring myself to take down the hammock yet ). I sleep through bfs while cosleeping, so wasn't sure how she'd go.

Since I moved her, she's woken up and come into bed with us every night, but she's only doing it once and sometimes not until about 4am. Once she went all the way to 6am. Sometimes she doesn't resettle with us, so I put her back in her own bed. My baby is growing up too fast.

But then some nights she's less settled and I'm sure she's bfing more often because she's in with me most of the night.

[~TT40~]

I tried to do what you do Jen, and just let DD bf all night, or atleast had the boob out all night and she could get on and off as she wanted. (alot younger than yours I know), but I felt I didn't sleep well at all, felt I was always feeding her, because she would still wake me up when she started sucking, so it felt like it was constantly all night, when it probably wasnt...I get way more rest sitting up and feeding and then laying back down again when done.
amazing how one thing works for someone but not for others.

[Jennifer13]

T, I think it depends on how soundly you sleep and how long you've done it for. After bfing DD1 for four years, I think bfing just became part of my early morning sleep pattern. I think (although I have nothing but a feeling to base this on!) that the younger the baby the more likely you are to be alert/wakeful too. Now I don't worry about DD2 getting stuck between us or accidentally letting her roll out of bed so I think I sleep more soundly.

I'm also quite a deep sleeper and find sleeping comes very quickly and easily, so even if I am disturbed, it is momentary.

Bub will naturally bf less as they get older, your DD is still little!

[~TT40~]

you are right, I think the age thing is it. it might work again when she is older, even now is easer than a month ago in terms of cosleeping and bf and feeling comfortable.

also, I still squirt all over the place...even in the boob no feeding, really strong let down. so we do end up in a puddle of milk unless I pad myself up heaps

[k4t]

I get way more rest sitting up and feeding and then laying back down again when done.
amazing how one thing works for someone but not for others.

Really is amazing. I would be a zombie by now if I was still trying to sit up to feed. I think DD (4months) still wakes me most feeds overnight but I'm usually back asleep very fast. I'm not sure SHE actually wakes mind you as I usually switch sides and latch her back on at the first sign of a wriggle. She effectively gets a long string of dream feeds. Bed sharing was definitely the best thing for our sleep and BFing.

[Cranky Kitten]

I've never been much of a cosleeper, I sleep too lightly and so wake at every little movement. I can feed laying down on one side but not the other and manage a light doze but its more wake than sleep when I do.

I think I'm going to set a timeframe for weaning - I've reached the point where I'm over it. Over having him so dependent on me, especially for sleep and I want to be able to leave him with DH occasionally or even have a sleep in past 5am...

I'm ready to stop now, but why do I feel that little bit selfish about it?

[onthefly]

Perhaps you're not quite ready CK? It does all get easier as they move into the second year and he's probably at an age now when he can go without you if need be, so you might be able to work some compromises as you move toward weaning, if you want.
And when did he turn one!?

[Teeki]

I completely get you CK, I have moments of being well and truly over it and annoyed at the fact I'm the only one who can get DD to sleep at night. One day I'll want to actually do something adult at night, it's been 18 months!!

Just recently though, DD has become a complete Daddy's girl. I swear if he had the boobs I'd be completely unnecessary in this family! So now after DD's bath, she has quiet play with Daddy. He reads to her and gets her to lie on her little couch in the lounge. It's gradually getting to the point that she's getting sleepy there. Last night he did the same with her in her cot but that was much less successful. So our plan is, one Friday or Saturday night when we have nothing on the next day, he'll spend the night with her til she's asleep. Or until she gets upset and needs me or it gets too late with no sign of sleep. We figure this is the gentlest way to handle it.

Not sure if this appeals to you or if your DS is ready, but thought I'd share our plans for you

[Jennifer13]

CK, maybe night weaning is something you could try and that would help?

I night weaned DD1 at 16 mths as she was mucking around too much after bfing and keeping us up! Cutting her bfs to just a few worked for us during the day and she kept going for another 2 1/2 yrs!

[peanutter]

DS2 has started biting my boobies.

If it doesn't stop, I might stop resisting him weaning, which he's awful close to anyway.

[Cranky Kitten]

Night weaning - maybe. I started trying to night wean at one point, offering sippy cups of water instead or just cuddles until he went back to sleep, but then he started teething and went right off his food because of it, so the night weaning fell by the wayside because he was actually hungry.

I'm not sure if I'm ready to wean completely to be honest. Not yet, but soon. If I can maybe cut it back to first thing in the morning and last thing before bed it I think I'd be okay. The biggest thing for me I think would be having him let DH put him to bed after his feed without it resulting in hysterical crying. It's tearing both me and DH apart.

[onthefly]

It's a really hard time when they're like that! It does pass... eventually. Some parents might find that weaning helps, but for others it's just the same, only no boobs to help! Good luck, whatever you decide.

[HotI]

Have you tried going out and letting you DH work out his way of settling your little one? I avoided going out for a loong time because i (we) thought i was the only one that could get dd to sleep. Through necessity, i had to be away and then it wasn't as bad as we thought, and they worked out their own way of getting dd to sleep. It also strengthened their relationship. I also had to let DH work out his own way, trying to mimic my methods just wasn't going to work.

Peanutter - is there a specific time when your little one is biting? Do you think it is just his age, or part of the breast refusal? :hugs:

i find it interesting how there is so much variance in 'co-sleeping' and breastfeeding. I wear a top to bed so i have to actually get my breast out, i don't have it available to baby at all times. I usually lie on my side, feed bub, he goes to sleep and detaches or gets detached, i cover up and go to sleep. He wakes up, i pull him over me to the other side, feed bub, he goes to sleep..... repeat.

I never worked out how to feed baby from the top breast, so have to do the switch sides thing. I have actually woken a few times with DS crawling over my head to switch sides. After the feed, he generally wants to roll away (to be spooned) or to lay on his tummy. Quite different to DD who always wanted to be right up close.